What does a woman sound like? Vocal training helps trans women find their voices
Achieving a higher voice can be essential to embracing a female identity, and it can serve as a cloak of protection from bias and bigotry
“I always thought it was normal to hate hearing yourself talk, but at some point you realize that other people don’t think ‘I want to vomit’ after hearing themselves speak,” Lilian Primrose told me.
Lilian, a 30-year-old computer programmer, began her transition from male to female in September of 2017. I met her in February at a coffee shop in Greenwich Village. She sat across from me, proudly presenting as her authentic self and eager to speak about her gender transition journey. Donning dark lipstick and shoulder-length wavy brown hair, Primrose explained how she had come a long way from the confused isolated boy she used to be.